NYT Pips Hints & Answers for April 11, 2026

Ian Livengood's easy grid for April 11th opens at the top and works its way down. A single-cell sum=5 constraint at the top of the board names the only domino that can reach there with a 5-pip face pointing upward, and its partner drops into an empty cell just below. The two three-cell sum regions that run down the board's two columns are each resolved by a double and a non-double working together — the [4|4] double anchors the left column, and the only domino with a 0-pip face settles the right. A lone single-cell sum=5 at the corner confirms the last placement and closes the puzzle.

Rodolfo Kurchan's medium puzzle for April 11th is a double-heavy board: four of the seven dominoes are doubles — [0|0], [4|4], [5|5], and [6|6] — and each one occupies a distinct region. The three-cell equals region in the center row is the anchor point: any double placed inside it forces all three cells to the same value. The [6|6] double is the only tile that can fill two adjacent cells in that region while still allowing the surrounding sum=6 and sum=10 constraints to resolve. With that one placement, two sum=10 regions across the top and bottom close in sequence, and two more doubles fall into their slots without ambiguity.

Rodolfo Kurchan's hard puzzle for April 11th is ruled by a sum=1 region in the top row — a two-cell constraint so tight that only a single pair of pip values (0 and 1) can satisfy it. That placement immediately fixes values in four adjacent cells through a chain of sums, locking down the entire top row in one pass. Below the top row, a three-cell equals region of 2s is anchored by the only double in today's hard set. A four-cell less-than-5 region at the bottom is filled entirely with 1-pip faces — three supplied by separate non-double dominoes, and one by the [1|1] double that closes the board.

Try these hints one at a time. Each hint becomes more specific to help you solve it yourself!